Structure and tasks

The EKD Council, whose term of office is six years, has fifteen members, both lay people and clergy. Fourteen of the members are elected jointly by the Synod and the Church Conference. The President of the Synod is the fifteenth member ex officio. The Synod and the Church Conference also jointly select the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the Council from among the elected council members.

The Council governs the EKD in all matters not explicitly reserved to other bodies. Its particular concerns are to ensure co-operation between the church agencies and associations in all areas, to represent Protestant Christianity in the public sphere, and to make comment on issues of religious and social life. This is generally done either by issuing statements on current concerns at short notice, or by producing memoranda and studies, by contributing to public debate, and by issuing position papers.

Where issues of mutual interest (such as the protection of life or the permissibility of organ transplants) are concerned, joint statements are published with the German Catholic Bishops' Conference.

According to its constitution, the EKD Council has to submit a report giving account of its work to every session of the Synod. In addition the Synod receives a book giving detailed reports twice during its term of office. This contains reports not only on the work of the EKD's bodies but also on that of the agencies, organizations and other institutions working under the aegis of the EKD.

The Council has ten to eleven meetings a year.